Review - O Marinheiro Restaurant, Hamilton

Another month has passed, and again, it was time for Bob and I to check out what the local restaurants had to offer. This month was my choice, so I flipped through the entertainment book, to see what would stand out.

On the way home from work, I drive through an area of town, which has a heavy Portuguese population, and I had remembered Bob telling me about a great seafood place on James St. N. We met up at a little patio bar on James, and had a few cold beers, since the weather was great. We decided on O Marinheiro, to check out the seafood.

The place was cozy, and there were a few people there, but not too many. Bob and I also decided, that rather than order off the menu, we asked the owner to give us a meal that would impress, and reminded her that we were hungry. To make the evening authentic, we stuck with Portuguese beer, and the food started to flow.

We started with a soup - a simple chicken noodle soup, but with the fresh portuguese roll, it was tasty. The next course, they brought out some deep fried squid. The egg batter was nice and light, and the squid was good. On to the next course...they have a fish platter, so we had that - 4 types of fish - redfish, sole, a cod type fish, and a fish that tasted like smelt, but a fair size bigger. All pieces of fish were lightly deep fried, served with rice and a salad. The fish was excellent, but it would have been nice if we didn't have to take the bones out. After the fish, we were ready for the next course - shellfish. Almost like a gumbo, the platter was spicy, and contained a lobster, a snowcrab, huge mussels, and lots of shrimp. We dug in, and needless to say, the bite of the spices was a nice change from the usual steamed shellfish we were used to.

After licking our fingers and needing to be hosed off, we inquired about dessert. We asked her to mix it up, and she brought out 3 for us to split and try, mentioning that they were all portuguese desserts.

First, was an egg custard - like a creme caramel. This is one of my favorite desserts, so I enjoyed it. The second dessert was a type of heavy meringue - light for dessert. The last was a like a custard tart. It was sweet, and complimented the espresso/cappucinos we had to end dinner.

To top the dinner off, and for us letting the kitchen do their stuff, the owner brought us a couple of brandys on the house. A nice touch and finish to an ecellent meal!

The damage? &89, excluding tip. Can't beat the O Marinheiro (The Sailor) Restaurant for a home cooked seafood dinner, with a Portuguese flair. We will definitely be going back there again. Considering that our usual tabs approach $200, this was well worth the price.